


Fragments

by historiareiss



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, fucked up family dynamics and stuff, hence this collection of reiss family moments, im obsessed with the reiss family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-17 05:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16089293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historiareiss/pseuds/historiareiss
Summary: A collection of memories that the Reiss family has been passing down for decades.





	1. Morgenröte

Everyone looked at her eerily tonight, over the dinner table. As if that was the last they'd ever see of her. But that was not quite right.

Frieda would still have 13 long years ahead of her upon inheriting the Founding Titan from Uncle Uri.

Even Urklyn, the brother she was closest to, stared at her long and hard when he thought she wouldn't notice.

“What?” She teased him, cracking a wide smirk. “Afraid you won't be able to bully me any longer once I am Queen?”

He did not reply, only looked away and let out a faint, halfhearted cackle.  
The conversation, as long as the general mood, went stale pretty soon.  
It was hard to focus on anything beside the pressing thought of the upcoming succession ceremony, or Uri's odd absence at the head of the table.

“May I be excused?” Frieda said at last, unable to bear the pressure and the stifling gazes fixated on her face when she wasn't looking.

“Tomorrow evening you will sit in your Uncle's seat at this table, as the new head of the Reiss family.” Rod reminded his oldest daughter, or maybe himself.

“I will not disappoint you, Father.” She murmured, and, with a last look to her mother and siblings, she dismissed herself.

There was only one thing on her mind now; not the enormous responsibilities of being queen, or the god-like power of Ymir Fritz, not even the will of the First King that she promised to defy. Only Uri.

She had to see him, and talk to him one last time before the ritual.

And he was right where she expected him to be. Right in front of the lake where he always used to sit and meditate about the world's fate.  
Frieda believed that it ought to be a very grievous fate if it made him look so sad.

But he was not alone in the night. Kenny Ackerman was standing a few feet away from him. His lean and towering figure looked even more threatening in the darkness.  
The Reiss girl had always shared her father's belief that the man should not be trusted as much as Uri did.

She approached quietly. Kenny heard her first, his senses as alert as a hound's.

“Oh, look who's here, Uri! The next queen of the Walls.” Ackerman cried out to his friend and boss in a very excited pitch, then to her alone he hissed, “Have you come to see if your uncle can forgive you and put your conscience to rest, girl?”

Uri ignored the man's harsh manners, and Frieda struggled to do the same. He just smiled at his niece, and beckoned her to come sit next to him by the lakeside.

“Will you leave us alone for a while? Please, Kenny.”

“Tch,” snorted Ackerman, as he spat only a few inches from Frieda's feet. “I'll leave you two to it.” Then he receded in the shadows and vanished, as swiftly as a raggedy and untamed tomcat.

“That man...” Frieda commenced, as her eyes were lingering in the empty space where Kenny was standing moments earlier.

“Is the most loyal of friends and he will serve you and your father when I'm gone. I made sure of it. Now sit, Frieda. I doubt you have come to discuss Kenny Ackerman at a hour such as this.”

She sat obediently next to him, and awkwardly returned his sad smile. His smiles were always sad, and albeit heartfelt, Frieda couldn't free herself from the bittersweet feeling they conveyed.

“Uncle...” The limp in her throat made it hard for her to speak. She had been so brave and steadfast when the moment came for the successor to be chosen among her siblings.  
She stepped forth and volunteered within a heartbeat, determined not to give in to the ghosts who had trampled down Uri's will.

“I know. But you see, I will not die tomorrow, niece. We share more than a name and our blood. I will keep living, through your memories.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, meeting her blue eyes.

The grip was so faint that it made Frieda flinch. Her uncle's strength truly was waning more and more by the day. It was hard to believe that this old man wielded the invincible power of the Founding Titan once.

“You do not need my forgiveness. I am a sinner too, as the rest of us... The Walls I have built, the people beyond them...” At some point, he must have gotten carried away in his train of thought and said something that he had never mentioned previously in all his preaching.

“People?” Frieda's blue eyes widened in astonishment. “You mean there are other people beyond the Walls?”

“Frieda.” His grip on her shoulders became tighter, as a last spark of his former power flashed across his grey pupils right then. “You must never let anyone know.  
You will understand in due time, and hopefully you'll succeed where I failed.”

“Oh, I will.” The girl could feel the determination she had exhibited in front of her father and siblings come back to her, wash over her, and fill her to the brim once again.  
“I will rid humankind of the titans, uncle. Even if it means destroying myself and our entire family.”

The King of the Walls looked away, far into the distance, and over to the lake's surface, or even beyond that. “You are in darkness at present, niece. But the morning will come eventually, and you will see things under a new light then.”

“When the morning comes, I will still be myself.” Frieda insisted, but she was left alone in the exchange, for her uncle would never pursue any argument.  
His mind was already set on something else, some dark and mysterious musing that she could not even begin to fathom, and was now ignoring her utterly.

“Be brave, tomorrow. Be worthy of your ancestors.” He said at last, after an impossibly long silence. Frieda rose to her feet brusquely, tears already stinging her eyes.

“I will. I will be brave. Farewell, uncle.”

Then she ran away, leaving the King to meditate alone on his last night on earth.

 


	2. Unwanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rod and Alma in 329, hours later Uri inherited the Founding Titan from the late Lord Reiss, and months prior to Historia's birth.

“Alma...” the man wept like a baby, retaining so little of his high status' dignity. And yet the woman he was kneeling in front of, welcomed him in her arms without saying a word.

She would whisper sweet nothings to his ear every now and then, between the breaks he would take from crying, but mostly she just let him speak, because that's what men of high standing expect lesser women to do.

It was a luck that Rod Reiss did not bother to meet Alma's blank stare as she cradled him in her arms, or he would have seen. He would have seen that she actually despised him, and his weakness, his cowardice and his self-indulgent nature.

If he was a better man, he would not send her back to her parents, covered in shame and with a child to raise.

And even now, with her hopes of a better life completely crushed, she still has to listen to this man's nonsense about his own suffering and his family's cursed history.

All the while she wanted to remind him that this child she was carrying was supposed to be his family too. But no, he was oblivious to her pain, or the little bastard growing in her womb.

“If only you could see it, Alma... When he emerged from the titan's body, he... he looked possessed. Like it was not Uri at all. He...”  
His sobs were so severe that he had to take several breaks mid-sentence before he could form one. “He looked just like Father.”

“My lord...” She prompted at some point, as her arms had gone numb from holding him, and her vest was stained with his tears and snot. “Have you thought about my request?”

Rod squinted, as his teal clueless eyes were utterly shrouded from crying. “What? What request?”

Alma was at loss, again. How could anyone be so selfish and deaf to somebody else's needs?

He only loved himself, and the children by his wife, but only as long as they could serve his purposes.  
As soon as one has outlived their usefulness to Rod Reiss, they'll be thrown away like old used toys, sent back to the countryside so that he can forget about his sins and make peace with his conscience again, as if nothing had ever happened.

“If I could... stay here, with you, even after the delivery...” Her words came out all crumpled up. He could go on and on about his woes and fears and she would always listen, but when Alma's turn came to speak up about her own, Rod became both blind and deaf.

“Alma, my sweet... We have already discussed it. I cannot let you. What would my wife say? I need to fend off not only threats from the outside, but the inside too.  
You know, how the monarchy is unstable and we could lose our privileged status anytime now, and if I make myself look weak...”

 _But you_ are _weak_ , she wanted to spit. Instead she just said,

“Your brother is the true king now. How could you lose-”

Rod became vexed at her stubbornness pretty soon and turned away from her, drying his tears himself now, struggling to regain a shade of composure.

“Have you no pity for a man haunted by fate? I said no. It cannot come to be.” He ruled, rising to his feet. Even now, she was still taller than him by a few inches.  
“This child... it was a mistake, and should not have happened. But I am not heartless. I have already made arrangements for you two to stay in the countryside, in the house that I entrusted to your parents.”

“Am I to have nothing of my own?” Alma cried out finally, exhausted by the man's petty excuses.

“Why, my dear,” sighed Rod Reiss, resting his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave the room, “you get to keep the child. That's yours, and always will be.”

 


	3. Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Urklyn and Frieda Reiss settle their differences over a rather serious family issue.

“What business do you have in the countryside every week?” inquired Urklyn, puzzled and slightly annoyed by Frieda's frequent visits to a certain farm on the Reiss' estate.

“It is expected of me, Lyn. I am supposed to pay a visit or two to our tenants every now and then, or they will think that Rod Reiss' daughter is a good-for-nothing who doesn't care for the estate's welfare!” explained Frieda, as she shoved a couple of old books in her bag. It looked like she was rather in a hurry.

“Do our tenants know how to read? That sounds new even to me, and most unlikely.” Her little brother wouldn't get off her back this morning with all his clever questions and remarks.   
But what use would be telling him anything, only to erase his memory moments later?

She would rather say nothing and keep her visits to Historia a secret.

“Well, one could always learn. I am responsible for their upbringing and education too, beside their revenue and work on our farms. Believe me, brother, you wouldn't enjoy being in my shoes one speck. Just leave it to me.” She flashed her brother one last smile, and then headed for the door, dressed as simply as ever.

“Does Father know, that you're visiting his bastard daughter?”

Frieda leaned against the nearest wall, and sighed, abandoning the hope of coming out of that exchange without having to reveal anything.

“He doesn't. Will you please keep this a secret?”

Urklyn Reiss cracked a bitter smile. “What matters if I do not? You can always erase our memories. Truth is what you make it. You have the invincible power, after all.”   
He sounded as if he resented her, somehow, for inheriting the power of the titans and the burden of humanity.

“You are my brother, I would never do that to you. Just promise me, and I'll believe you, and it will never be spoken of again.”

“Does the girl remember you?”

The boy was too clever for his own good, or hers. She loved that about him, but right now, cornered as she was, she found herself cursing his quick wits.   
“No. But how could I let her remember me? If she should find out my identity...”

“She would know that she is Father's daughter, and a Reiss.” Urklyn rolled his eyes then, and shook his head in disbelief at his sister's foolishness.   
“You are endangering us all with your behaviour. That is not what a queen would do.”

Frieda was taken aback by this sudden show of reprimand, coming from her brother of all people.

“A queen cares for all her subjects, not just the ones closest to her. She is alone in the world and a constant target for the other children's mocking, and most importantly, she is my sister.  
So if you disapprove of my doing, then maybe you should stay out of it. For better or for worse, I am the head of the Reiss family now.”

Urklyn marvelled at her ice cold tone and newly found resolution. Disarmed, he could only nod and accept her decision.

“I won't tell Father. I won't tell anyone.”

Frieda's facial features softened again, as she went back to being her usual bright kind self. “Thank you, Lyn. I won't be long.”

Urklyn Reiss watched his sister jump the fence in the courtyard and run off to the farm where Historia Reiss lived with her mother and her grandparents.   
On the way, she turned back only once to wave and beam at him.

 


	4. One day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia Reiss grows up on her grandparents' farm, but life is all but simple as she meets people who will later play an important role in her life for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the Attack on Titan wikia: "Historia's childhood resembles the situation of Paradis Island. The farm she lived in was surrounded by fences and there were bullies outside who threw rocks at her, which made her never want to leave the farm. This mirrors the humans inside the Walls who feared going outside because of the Titans outside. Frieda Reiss used to come over to take care of Historia, erased her memories, and told her to never go over the fence; this echoes the first king's will"

Life was tougher than it needed to be for a child her age. And fellow children were the most cruel of all.  
They always found something to throw at her, whether it was their insults or simply the stones in their nearest proximity.

Was it because she wasn't lady-like enough, or pretty enough, like the girl in the book was?

Somebody once told her that she ought to be gracious and well-loved above anything else, albeit she couldn't remember who had told her that, exactly.

She could hear the boys laugh as she fled and tried her best to dodge the stones. Most times, she just wasn't fast enough, and they hit her hard on the back or the head.

“Stop it! Stop it at once!” She cried out to the little boys, her voice shattering with every word.

“Or what?” one shouted back, cupping his hands around his lips. Even from a distance, Historia could see that his teeth were crooked on the front, but he sneered all the same.  
She remembered him, this one, as she had had the time to single him out from the rest of them during their previous encounters on account of his peculiar zeal in tormenting her.

He enjoyed picking on her more than the others, and would often pit his friends against her even when they had nothing against her to begin with. “Will you climb over the fence and beat us up?”

She would have loved climbing over the fence and run away from that place. She truly would have.  
But a familiar voice emerged from the back of her mind every time she meditated of doing so, warning her against it. Oddly enough, she couldn't recall who gave her that warning.

Perhaps her grandparents? But certainly not her mother, who would love nothing better.

Besides, she had already gotten a splinter in her finger from the failed attempt at climbing over the fence, and that had been more than enough to dissuade her from further attempts.

“Not now, maybe... But one day.”  
  
She promised; not to her bullies, who were already walking away, exchanging japes about her laughable distressed face; but to her secret self.

 

“ _One day, I will climb over the fence_.”

 


	5. That day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This might be too ancient a memory, but Ymir Fritz and her daughters having one last conversation before her untimely death might be the closest we get to uncovering the source of her mysterious power.

“When I die...” The mighty, all-powerful Ymir could barely speak, bed-ridden and faint as she was. Her daughters gathered around the bed to hear what their mother had to relate in her last hours among them.

“When I die, my soul will split into nine shards. One for either of you who proves worthy enough to inherit it, whilst the other eight...”

The Queen coughed, and spat blood.

She, who had once subdued all peoples in the span of barely 13 years, was laying now agonizing.

Rose, the Queen's middle daughter, couldn't stop weeping. She had yet to resign to the fact that their mother was going to leave them so soon.   
“This must be the working of a curse!” She keened, pressing a handkerchief against her red lips.

“Rose. Let Mother speak.” Sheena, the youngest and most level-headed of the three, scowled her sister behind ice-green eyes.

Ymir inhaled as if she might never exhale again, and held her breath for the longest time.

“Maria, Rose, Sheena... The noble families of Eldia will have the other eight. Each of them will own a titan, each will wield a piece of my power...”

Maria, the eldest and most generous, rested her blue shawl on her mother's shivering body, then took leave to speak.   
“But how are we to keep our family in charge if we only get one titan, and the nobles will have eight? They will overthrow us in no time.”

“No...” Ymir smiled with a hint of mischief then, even though it visibly pained her to do so. 

“They won't, for you get to keep the most powerful titan, the primordial titan. All other titans will have to submit to its inheritor; a Fritz.”

The girls all cowered together in a hug to draw courage from one another. They were young, too young, and the burden their mother was going to leave on their shoulders was a most grievous one.

They were scared and sorely unprepared.

“You have to protect that titan at any cost. Do not fight against each other for the right to inherit it.   
I guarantee you that this power will bring you no joy. It will seal your fate... within 13 years, like mine was.   
So promise me. Promise me to always remain loyal to your sisters.”

They promised, amidst sobs and tears. Then Ymir asked her daughters to leave her be. She wanted to die alone, as she had lived.

Rose and Sheena left one last kiss on their mother's brow, then went.

Only Maria lingered behind.

“Mother... In all these years, you have never told us how you came by this power...”

Ymir Fritz's watery grey eyes flickered briefly, like a star before its ultimate collapse. She must have remembered something that brought the life back into her motionless body, even if for only a fleeting moment.

“I cannot explain what I saw that day. But you shall see for yourself very soon, once you inherit my memories.”

 


	6. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uri and Rod level with each other and set up a scheme together.

When Rod was finally released, he came back to his chambers angrier than ever. Father had hoped to beat the defiance out of him, but somehow he had only managed to achieve the opposite on his spirit.

Uri went to him first, worried sick. “Rod... I am sorry.”

“Don't be. This is the last time I let him do this to me.” His voice was firm, unshaken albeit faint.

His little brother helped him to his bed. He was weak and dizzy from being left to starve for several days.

“You should rest now...”

“How can I rest when our father would let the titans destroy the world?” 

“You cannot change his mind. You will only draw his anger to you if you keep being so stubborn.”

“That's easy to say for you! You're a coward!” Rod retaliated, spite poisoning his voice.

A dead silence closed over their heads then. Rod had probably regretted his choice of words already, when Uri's thin lips parted to speak again.

“There is only one way to change things, and that's by doing it ourselves. While you were locked up, I made my choice. When the moment comes, I'll do it myself.”

“Uri...” Rod stirred in the bed, struggling to get up and face his younger brother, but his limbs were too weak for that.

“I will inherit Father's titan and put an end to the titans' threat once and for all. I could not persuade him to release you, or to let you eat, and I was too cowardly to tempt his rage like you did...  
But I can do this much for you, brother. I can take the burden of the Reiss on my shoulders so that you won't have to.”

Rod's blue eyes were now shrouded by tears. Uri, on the other hand, had never appeared so steadfast in his decision.

They hugged and cried in each other's arms for a while.

“Together, we can do it. We can save this world. You'll just have to pray for me.” said Uri, drying his tears with his sleeve.

Rod mimicked him, and nodded. “I will.”

 


	7. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grisha and Frieda meet in the Reiss chapel and discuss briefly, before the final reckoning.

“Which one of you holds the Founding Titan?” A bearded man wearing glasses and shabby dark hair interrupted their prayer.

Lady Reiss looked the most bewildered of all. And it truly was bewildering, how a common man from some forsaken corner of Wall Maria could have gotten there.

“Who are you?!” Urklyn ran to shield his mother from the mysterious stranger. Florian, Abel and Dirk all took refuge behind their brother. Lord Reiss seemed to recognize the threat this stranger posed more than anyone, so he took several steps back against the chapel's crystal walls.

Only one of the daughters remained still, unfazed by his raid.

She had black hair and big blue eyes, just like her cowardly father. Grisha wondered if by any chance it could be her.

“My name is Grisha Jäger. I have come to-...”

“Go back to where you came from, Grisha Jäger. There's no room for sinners like you here. This is a holy ritual, and we are at prayer, as you can see.” cried out Frieda, stepping past even Urklyn. Her calm and poised demeanour gave her away in Grisha's eyes.

Karl Fritz's will had taken over hers, beyond a doubt.

“Do you have any idea of what's going on out there!? Wall Maria has fallen! If you truly hold the power of God, then you have to use it to save your people and rid the world of titans!”   
He was beside himself, but the young woman in front of him wouldn't flinch, nor acknowledge his point.

“I shall do no such thing. There is no salvation for us, for the things we have done. If retribution comes for us, then we shall welcome it with open arms.”   
She spread her arms right then. The long and smooth sleeves of her robe made her look like an angel.

“Are you out of your mind!? This is Marley coming for us, you and me both!”

The Reisses exchanged puzzled, frightened looks as they cowered together into a shivering embrace.

A realization dawned on Frieda just then. “ _Ah_... It seems you still have your memories, Grisha Jäger. And it must be because you are not from here.   
You must be the spawn of the unworthy who didn't make it to Paradis when the Walls were built.” Disgust and loathing twisted her facial features.   
She didn't look so pretty anymore. It was like someone else had taken hold of her body and was speaking in her voice now.

“Frieda! Kill him!” She could hear Urklyn urging her a few steps behind. Mother and Father were too scared to even speak, and so were the little ones.

The Reiss woman turned back to look at her family. “No need to worry. Just stay back. It will be over soon. I will protect you.”

“If you won't comply with my plea, then you leave me no choice, Frieda Reiss.” The dark haired man went from hysterical to pale and cold. It was a fearsome change to behold.   
“I have people I have to protect too.”

The silver glimmer of a blade, a wound that drew blood. A powerful lightning bolt scythed the air, and then the thunderous roar of a titan followed.

Frieda witnessed the whole scene like she wasn't new to it. She took one more step forth towards her opponent, and bit in her own hand.

 


End file.
